Description

Subjective norms, which are their beliefs about how their friends will
view the specific behaviors.

Perceived behavioral control, which is how easily they can perform the
behaviors.

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was described in 1967 by Fishbein and
includes the idea that behavior is driven by intentions, which a function
of an individual's attitude toward the behaviour and subjective norms around the
performance of the behavior. In 1985, this was extended as the Theory of Planned
Behavior (TPB).

Research

A number of women were asked a broad set of questions, including their
attitude towards the birth control pill and whether they might use it within the
next two years. Two years later, they were asked whether they had used the pill.
Their previous general attitude turned out not to be a very good predictor of
their actions. Only when very specific questions had been asked were these good
predictors.

Example

Interviewers for jobs will often probe or otherwise test for these factors in
an attempt to discover whether the interviewee will fit well into the target
environment.

So what?

Using it

Ask specific questions to elicit attitudes. Be careful about
asking what their friends will think. Show how easy it is to do the thing you
want them to do.